The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2014, and October 31, 2015 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2015 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on October 15, 2015, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

In this collection, a wide variety of mostly everyday items are described in terms of their motion. Cereal, scissors, and rubber bands, as well as carousels, waterfalls, and helicopters are examined and described visually and aurally. The reader is presented with vivid visual images, but it is the sounds that the objects make as they move that give life to the poems. The wind chimes are “tin ballerinas on a tangle of string,” but they are also “sweet voices of chattering ghosts.” Ice cubes plop and make a “crackling, clinking chime” as we “watch them bounce and belly flop.” Most of the poems are on a single illustrated page and there are a few double-page spreads. Dugan selects just the right perspective to spotlight each subject’s motion. Colors are bright without being garish and there’s a sense of joy throughout. A different way of viewing the world around us. (Poetry. 6-10)

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